Dutch court lets paedophile party contest country's general election

The Netherlands cemented its reputation as Europe's most socially liberal country yesterday when a new political party formed by paedophiles was told it could contest this year's general election.

A Dutch court rejected an attempt by anti-paedophile campaigners to ban the Brotherly Love, Freedom and Diversity party (PNVD), which wants to cut the age of consent from 16 to 12 and to legalise child pornography. "The freedom of expression, the freedom of assembly and the freedom of association should be seen as the foundations of the democratic rule of law and the PNVD is also entitled to these freedoms," the court in The Hague said in a statement.

The court declared that curbs on freedom of expression could only be applied where public order is at risk. "They [opponents of the party] only want to give expression to their moral concerns. That is far from being sufficient to outlaw a party. It is up to the voter to give a judgment on the arguments of political parties," Judge H Hofhuis was quoted by the Dutch news agency ANP as telling the court.

The ruling will be seen as a powerful example of the Netherlands' liberal approach to social issues. The country has famously relaxed views on soft drugs, prostitution and gay marriage.

The paedophile party will be free to stand in November's general election if it meets the usual requirements of submitting a list of candidates and providing the signatures of at least 500 supporters.

The court's decision angered the anti-paedophile campaign group Solace, which brought the case, and whose views appear to be widely reflected in Dutch society.

No Kidding, a group campaigning for children's rights, called on the Dutch government to act against the party. "Dutch citizens must make their voices heard if we do not want to sacrifice our children to paedophile interests," it said.

The new party, which was formed in May, pledged to intensify its campaign to remove the taboo on paedophilia which, it claims, has worsened in the past decade after the arrest of the notorious Belgian paedophile Marc Dutroux. In his most notorious crime, Dutroux kidnapped and imprisoned two young girls and starved them to death.

Marthijn Uittenbogaard, the chairman of the new party, was quoted by ANP as saying: "We expected to win. We are not doing anything criminal so why should you ban the PNVD?"

The new party wants to legalise the possession of child pornography and to allow pornography to be shown on daytime television. Violent pornography would be allowed after the evening watershed, young children would receive sex education and youths over the age of 16 would be allowed to appear in pornographic films. Sex with animals would also be allowed by the party, although abuse of animals would remain illegal.

Such ideas have proved too much for 82% of the Dutch population, who want the government to outlaw the party according to a recent opinion poll. Publicity for the party last month provoked such a backlash that one of its founders had to flee a caravan park after receiving threats.

The reaction against the new party comes at a sensitive moment in Dutch history. The difficulty of integrating many members of the country's Muslim population has prompted even mainstream politicians to call for immigrants to be denied citizenship if they do not accept the country's liberal values.

Rita Verdonk, the country's immigration minister, recently caused controversy by saying that aspiring Dutch citizens should be shown a DVD highlighting Dutch liberal values. Muslims complained that this was targeted against them because it featured a gay couple kissing.

The general election was called after the coalition government collapsed in a row linked to the debate on Muslims. The small centre-right D66 party withdrew from the coalition after Ms Verdonk stripped Dutch citizenship from (and then restored it to) Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born former MP who is one of the country's sharpest critics of radical Islamists and is now to emigrate to the US.

Testing times

Events that have shaken the Netherlands' liberal reputation:

February 2002 Pim Fortuyn kicked out of the Livable Netherlands party after saying immigration should be restricted and discrimination permitted. His Pim Fortuyn List becomes the second-largest party in May's parliamentary elections

May 2002 Fortuyn shot dead nine days before elections, by an animal rights activist who said he wanted to prevent the politician exploiting vulnerable elements of society

November 2004 Film-maker Theo van Gogh murdered on an Amsterdam street by a Muslim extremist. Van Gogh had become a target because of his film Submission, which dealt with violence against women in Islam

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